Srebrenica Memorial Quilt comes to Seattle

The Srebrenica memorial quilt is a collection of sewn-together panels woven in the traditional Bosnian kilim style. It was created by displaced Bosnian women, mostly from Srebrenica, working in the organization Bosfam. Each panel bears the name of a weaver’s family member who was killed in the July 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.

The presentation of the quilt has two goals: keeping the story of Srebrenica alive and informing people about the struggle of post-war Bosnians to survive and recover; and raising funds to help the women weavers continue their work.

The quilt and accompanying photographs will be on display at the Burien Library on Saturday afternoon, May 8th. A short film about Srebrenica will be shown. Participants will be on hand to discuss the quilt project and answer all questions.
Women who were displaced from Srebrenica and other parts of eastern Bosnia founded Bosfam, a women’s self-help organization and crafts cooperative, in Tuzla, northeast Bosnia.

The women of Bosfam create and market items of clothing and handicrafts, including the traditional kilim, or flat-weave carpet. In 2007 Bosfam began to weave kilim panels to commemorate the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and to remember their lost family members. The quilt is created from many individual kilim panels that have been stitched together, each bearing the name of a lost loved-one.